Beyond the Infinite
by Anguirus111
Summary: In a desperate attempt to find some way of reaching the Destiny, Daniel Jackson stumbles upon an idea that is far outside the box.  That the best way of finding a means to reach that ship lies with a disgraced rogue Stargate team codenamed Infinity.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Basically what this story is an attempt to incorporate Stargate Infinity into the proper SG canon. The creators of SG-1 have disavowed this show and that's fine, but I still think there are ideas worth cultivating even if the entire franchise is no more, hence why I'm writing this fic now. It is not a straight adaptation but fairly close as it also moves the events forward twenty years or so. I also have no intention of writing further Stargate Infinity stories so this is it. This story also takes place at some point during the final season of Stargate Universe.

Washington D.C.: Lt. General Jack O'Neill sat in his office in the Pentagon aimlessly shooting crumpled pieces of paper into the basketball hoop hanging over his wastebasket. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy his time with the Department of Homeworld Security, but today was one of those days when there really was not much to do. True the Lucian Alliance was still a problem, they always were, but they had been curiously silent for the past few weeks. And with the constant search into new ways of forming a stable wormhole to the Destiny not having made any new headway, the Lt. General found himself in the situation he was currently in.

Leaning heavily back in his chair, O'Neill sighed and once again debated calling up Major General Landry and seeing if he couldn't go out with an SG team for a few days for a little break from the monotony.

RING RING

The General was nearly startled out of his chair when his phone went off.

"General O'Neill," he said cautiously into it after he'd calmed down. He was also secretly hoping this call wouldn't be the IOA complaining about something or other.

"Hello, General, how're things in the basement?" asked his old friend and SG-1 team member Daniel Jackson.

"Why don't you come and work for me to find out?" said O'Neill immediately as Daniel laughed for a few moments.

"You know I would but…," began Daniel intentionally trailing off. O'Neill nodded his understandingly even though he knew Daniel couldn't see him.

"So how're things back at SGC?" asked the General curious. "Found any new leads into reaching the Destiny?"

"Actually, that's what I'm calling about," Daniel confessed. "I may have an idea that might find the planet we're looking for that much quicker."

O'Neill sat up at that, all ears. "What's the idea?"

The sound of Daniel clearing his throat at that statement made the General a little nervous.

"Daniel?" he asked, a little concerned.

"Ah, look, I'd rather not tell you over the phone. It possible we could meet in person?" asked Daniel. O'Neill sighed at that. Whenever Daniel had ideas that he only wanted to mention face to face to talk about, that meant they were too ridiculous to be seriously considered. But the scientist was an old friend and his ideas usually ended up saving the day at the end, so O'Neill would always give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Well I won't be at SG Command any time soon so…," began O'Neill looking at his calendar.

"No, that's okay, I'm actually here in DC," said Daniel immediately. O'Neill was confused by that.

"None of my records show that…," he began.

"The IOA dragged me out here to ask myself and Rodney more questions about reaching Destiny and we just got done," Daniel answered. That made sense to the General as the IOA was not always willing to be fully compliant in dealing with Homeworld Command.

"Well, okay," O'Neill relented. "Where should we meet?"

Daniel gave him a time and place and O'Neill wrote it down promising he'd be there and then hung up the phone.

* * *

><p>Somewhere amongst the cosmos: In a clearing on a planet that had likely never seen intelligent life, a lone giant ring that looked like it was made of stone sat in silence. How long it had been sitting there, no one really knew, only that when the native animals when the animals went out during the day to forage for food it was there and when they returned with their bellies full at the end of the night, it continued to stand in solitude.<p>

SHRUMMMM

And then the silence of the early morning was suddenly shattered as a noise reverberated across the clearing and the animals instantly perked up on alert. If anything recognized what was happening with the giant ring, they would've been amazed to see the innermost part of it, covered in strange symbols, begin turning as triangle shaped wedges on the outside seemed to extend and retract at random intervals before lighting up.

WHOOOSHHH

And then the animals saw something they thought they never would as a geyser of energy erupted from inside of the ring and a blue pool of water seemed to form afterwards. The animals nearest to the commotion stared at the vertical pool was drinkable or not, but it soon began a moot point as four objects erupted from the pool and into the clearing causing all the animals to flee.

If a human had been present watching the proceedings, they would've noticed that the four objects resembled a dune buggy, an ATV, a motorcycle, and finally a human being on a jetpack flying above the three vehicles.

But while no humans were present watching the vehicles, there definitely were humans manning them…and two distinctly non-humans were passengers in the larger buggy as all the vehicles skidded to a halt and the human flying the jetpack landed nearby. All of them looked around at their new surroundings and each had a look of relief as the planet they were on was full of trees and grass with a blue sky and clouds high above their heads.

"Nice one, Uncle Gus," said the young female driver of the ATV as removed her helmet and looked around while trying to straighten her shoulder length platinum blonde hair. "It's about time you picked a world that didn't have hot lava everywhere or poisonous gasses or…"

The driver of the Buggy, an older man and apparently the group's leader, 'Gus' chuckled heartily at that.

"Well we all get lucky sometimes, Stacey," he admitted. "Harrison, do us a favor and see if you can't find a water source nearby."

"On it, Major," said the man with the jetpack as two wings extended from the side of the device and he lifted off into the sky. From the motorcycle, a young woman of Native-American descent disembarked and looked around.

"Reminds me of home," she admitted aloud before walking off for the trees with the woman from the ATV, the one called Stacey, to go look for anything edible. The leader of the group watched them go before turning to the other passengers, both aliens, of his vehicle.

"Ec'co, see if you can't try and figure out where we are," Gus ordered to the green looking one, a male of his species who besides being very tall and very green, possessed a single yellow orb for an eye that covered a good portion of his face. He didn't give a verbal response, he just silently nodded his head and collected his scientific equipment and headed for the Stargate. With him gone, that just left the human and a female alien that seemingly defied explanation that made its way out of the vehicle and unfurled two giant wings and stretched them in the open space before looking at the planet with a hint of childlike wonder.

"Sense anything?" asked the leader of the group to the alien. The alien held a clawed hand to its head for a moment and the lowered its head.

"No," it admitted in a melodic sounding voice. A smile broke out over the man's face at that.

"Good. We've been running for so long from the Lucian Alliance forces, it'll be nice to take a break," he told her before allowing himself a moment to yawn and stretch as he looked out at the twin red suns high above them.

"Just when you think you've seen everything…," he stated wistfully with a smile on his face before he began examining the vehicles.

* * *

><p>Washington DC: Jack O'Neill found his old friend lounging on a park bench near the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Monument.<p>

"Daniel," O'Neill acknowledged as he got a big grin from Daniel. "How were things with the IOA?"

"Oh, the usual," he said lightly, though he clearly wasn't happy with being constantly grilled by them over every detail about the Stargate Program and about the efforts to recover the crew of the Destiny. "How're things with Homeworld Command?"

"Oh, the usual," O'Neill repeated with a light smile as Daniel chuckled along with that. "It's not like the old days anymore is it?"

"Not always, but…sometimes," said Daniel, also remembering the old days when it was Jack, Sam, Teal'c and himself journeying from world to world trying to find humanity's place in the stars while thwarting the Goa'uld. Still, they'd come a long ways since then and he was glad that they'd made the journey. The Goa'uld were gone, the Replicators dismantled, the Ori stopped, all that was really left at the moment to stop was the Lucian Alliance and the Wraith.

"So what idea do you have that needs my support?" O'Neill asked curious. Daniel scratched the back of his head nervously as he tried to figure out where to begin with this idea that he'd had during a sleepless night thinking about the Destiny that he couldn't just shake.

"We know that the best way of getting supplies to the Destiny is to find a planet with a naqaudriah core and then funnel that power into a Stargate to dial the nine chevron address," began Daniel, repeating facts O'Neill already knew. "We also know how hard it is to find such a planet because for us and the Lucian Alliance. That's why we're scouring every database we can from the Asgards to the Ancients to any other race we've come across to see if one exists that they already found."

"And we have SG teams also looking for one with every jump they make to new planets," O'Neill added. Daniel nodded his head in agreement.

"And that's why I came to talk to you," he began as some sixth sense in O'Neill's head went off making him think he already knew what Daniel came to talk about. "There's a resource we have at our disposal that we're not using and I think it could find the planet we're looking for much quicker, assuming it hasn't found it already."

That nagging feeling was beginning to buzz louder in his head, but he chose to try and ignore it and hope Daniel wasn't suggesting what he thought he was.

"Which would be?" asked O'Neill playing dumb. "A database we haven't used, a satellite that needs to be pointed in a new direction, what?"

Daniel nodded his head at those choices. "Those are all good ideas but no that's not what I was thinking."

"Then what?" asked O'Neill, again hoping Daniel wasn't suggesting what he thought he was.

"I was thinking more along the lines of an SG team," he began as O'Neill couldn't help himself but drop his head into his hands. "Now wait a minute Jack…"

O'Neill lifted his head back up and looked at Daniel as if he was crazy. "Maybe you've forgotten, but they're traitors…or at the very least their CO is."

"Now we both know there were a lot of loose ends with that case that didn't match up," Daniel protested as O'Neill fought the urge to roll his eyes. "You told me this yourself."

The General looked at O'Neill with hardened eyes. "Any second thoughts I had about whether or not Major Gus Bonner was a traitor ended when he opened the Iris on the Stargate to let that Lucian Alliance team into SG Command and then he summarily fled with a team of cadets back through the Stargate never to be seen again."

"Now that's just not true," Daniel continued. "By all accounts from the various worlds they've been to since then, the Lucian Alliance has constantly been pursuing them and they've done their best to fight them off."

O'Neill scoffed at that. "Even if I were to accept that fact that maybe the Lucian Alliance and he aren't on the best terms that still doesn't cover up the fact that he was found guilty of leading his SG team on an unauthorized mission off world that resulted in the loss of nearly everyone involved. He fled to avoid facing punishment and took a creature with him that you were very interested in studying!"

"I know, but I don't believe that's necessarily true either," Daniel continued stubbornly. "Look, the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of unanswered questions that I think we'd all like to know the answers to. But they've been on their own for more than a year and a half now with very little contact with Earth and they've been constantly bouncing out to worlds that we've never even been to, much less have in any of our databases. They could have even found the world we're looking for and passed over it, not thinking anything of it. Like it or not, they're our best untapped resource for finding what we need to dial Destiny. And I would appreciate it if you came with me back to SG command to convince General Landry that this is true. That the SG-Infinity team is our best unused shot at saving everyone onboard that ship."

O'Neill saw the convinced look in Daniel's face and knew there would be no convincing him otherwise. And although he didn't want to admit it, when Daniel thought of an idea worth pursuing, it was worth pursuing, even if in O'Neill's mind in this case it was a mistake. The worst part being that Jack had had similar thoughts many times but could never bring himself to voice them aloud.

"Fine," he relented to Daniel's relief. "But all I'll do is tell Landry that he should make initial contact with the team. It's up to you to convince him to accept your idea."

"Thank you, Jack, I really appreciate it," said Daniel ecstatic as the two got up. "I think this could be the first step in giving them the chance to prove their innocence and I'm sure the team will be more than happy to accept this mission."

"We'll see," said O'Neill unconvinced, but he too was interested in once more getting a hold of Major Gus Bonner and trying to get answers to the questions that had been nagging him for so long after he'd given the guilt verdict for the Major's actions to which the man had consistently claimed his innocence of.

Another world: "Moss soup, again, hooray, hooray," complained fighter jock R.J. Harrison of the SG-Infinity team. The group was clustered around a fire near the Stargate as nighttime had somehow fallen over the planet despite it being in a system with twin suns.

"It's your fault for not holding off on eating the chocolate bars those natives gave us on PR-2212," Cadet Stacey Bonner commented as her fellow female cadet, the Native-American woman named Seattle Montoya laughed into her hands at Harrison's eating habits. Harrison for his part just grumbled something unintelligible as he tasted some more soup and visibly cringed. It was similar conversations like that on dozens of different worlds that provided some sense of normalcy for this team so far away from home and with no hope of return.

"Ec'co, if you'd do the honors," asked their commanding officer Major Gus Bonner who was the only ranked individual of this group as the rest were all cadets or in Ec'co's case a scientist. The green alien consulted his handheld PDA and after a few moments of calculations, he located a portion of the night sky.

"Earth is that way," he concluded and the rest looked up at the sky at their home planet and the memories that came with it.

"Well I think I've had enough soup for one night, I'll see you all in the morning," Harrison concluded as he yawned heavily and stretched. The others too made their quiet goodbyes to also get some shut eye as Draa'ga moved over to a nearby tree and hung her long prehensile tail over one of the firmer branches and then fell asleep hanging upside down while using her enclosed wings as a blanket.

That just left Major Gus Bonner and his niece Stacey at the fire finishing their food and sitting in silence as the sound of the crackling fire filled the night sky.

"You'll get us home, won't you Uncle Gus?" Stacey asked as she sometimes did on quiet nights like this. Gus looked up at her as his eyes glowed from light of the fire creating a look of fierce intensity.

"I swear Stacey, I will get us all home," he promised as he always did. "I just need to find someway of finally proving my innocence and that there is more going on with the Lucian Alliance than SG Command currently suspects and then we'll be able to go back to our regular lives."

"I know you will, I know you will," said Stacey reassuringly with a faint smile as she got up and gave her Uncle a small peck on the cheek and too headed for bed in the tents they'd set up. Before she entered she looked back him as he continued to stare intently at the fire in front of him. She could tell it was eating him up inside that he couldn't at least get the cadets back to Earth after SG Command had switched the IDC codes to the Iris meaning they'd never get back to Earth without having their molecules scrambled. But he continued to be strong for all of them despite everything going on and in doing so allowed the others to find their own inner strength as well.

"Goodnight," she said very softly and turned in to bed with the others as the fire continued to light up the night sky.

* * *

><p>Earth: General Landry was sitting behind his desk filing paperwork when a knock was heard at his door.<p>

"Enter," he requested, a little relieved to be taking a break from his work. He was nonetheless surprised when General O'Neill and Daniel Jackson entered into his office.

"Well this is a surprise, it's good to see you again general," said Landry accommodatingly. He stood up and warmly shook hands with O'Neill. "I hope nothing's wrong that I don't know about."

"No, nothing like that," said O'Neill reassuringly. "Daniel here has a proposal for you involving the Destiny and he needed me for moral support."

Landy looked at Daniel a little surprised before holding out his hands disarmingly.

"Well go ahead," he said. Daniel nodded his head and prepared himself for what he to say.

"What do you know about the SG-Infinity team?" the scientist began. Landry looked at him confused.

"I wasn't aware we had enough SG teams to reach that high a number," he joked. Daniel gave a nervous grin at that as O'Neill took a seat nearby.

"Uh…well," Daniel began.

"Relax Daniel, I know who you're referring to," Landry admitted. "SG team whose leader is wanted for high treason, ran off with a bunch of equipment before he could be sentenced, etc. They call themselves SG-Infinity because I'm guessing they still feel some loyalty towards us. I was technically in charge of them for a time when Major Bonner was still with SG-8 and the rest were cadets, but because I was still new to the program when Major Bonner had that incident occur, General O'Neill here presided over the case. If you're wondering why we haven't caught them yet, it's because we have more pressing matters to worry about than a wayward SG team."

"That's actually not what I came to talk about," said Daniel to Landry's bewilderment. "Actually…it is, just not in that particular way. I was thinking that since we're so desperate to find a way of getting supplies to Destiny that we should be using every resource at our disposal and of those that we aren't, they'd be number 1 in my book."

Landry was very surprised by that suggestion and his expression showed it.

"Isn't that…against the rules?" he asked, not sure how to respond to that suggestion. He really hadn't followed the events leading up to the trial and subsequent aftermath of Major Gus Bonner as closely as he probably should have, but there had been more pressing matters to be concerned about when he'd taken command of SGC. What he did remember was that the Major had been found guilty for his actions but hadn't been sentenced before fleeing through the gate. "Especially after he opened the iris and let the Alliance through the gate and then fled with a bunch of cadets and an alien that was being studied."

Daniel nodded his head at that. "Yes, but as the later reports on the incident showed, records seemingly placed Bonner in two places at once during the incident and he and his cadets did lead the charge to repel the Alliance from the complex. But that's not the point anymore. I think we have nothing to lose by contacting them and asking them if they'd be willing to help us find such a planet. Not to mention having them find it and then tell us might go some way towards proving their innocence to us in everything that happened."

What Dr. Jackson said did make sense; Landry had to admit to that. On the other hand he did wonder what sort of precedent that would set by contacting and then giving orders to a team whose CO had led his prior SG team into a trap that had nearly gotten all of them killed and then apparently nearly gotten everyone else in the SGC killed due to the Alliance invasion.

"But I have to ask why you're so concerned about this particular team. If you were so interested in their innocence, I'd have thought you'd have been trying to prove that long before now," Landry said next. Daniel's uncomfortable look at that answered that question for him.

"Ah, so you're still interested in that creature they took with them," he realized nodding his head. Daniel looked away at that, ashamed and feeling guilty.

"I do want to prove their innocence as well," he swore as Landry tipped his head at him willing to silently acknowledge that fact. "But we'd been studying the creature they now call Draa'ga for quite some time when it still looked like an oversized caterpillar that had been in hibernation inside of a sarcophagus made of naquadah that was found in Egypt near the Stargate. That they took the creature with them where it managed to quickly transform into what it is now is simply…amazing. And from all the reports we've gotten from the planets the team has been through, this creature has the ability to do manipulate matter with its mind and at one point activated a Stargate through mere thought! Before we found out more about the Ancients, we thought that this creature might have been one of them, but now…now she's clearly connected to them in a way I haven't yet uncovered. And if we're going to get a better understanding of them, this alien would be one of the best ways to do it. Apparently the Alliance thinks so as well given how they've made attempts to capture her as well."

Landry considered that as well before turning to General O'Neill.

"And what's your interest in all of this?" he had to ask. O'Neill had to think about how he was going to word his response to that for a couple moments.

"Well I've largely put what happened with Major Bonner and his original SG Team and what happened before, during, and after his trial behind me," he began in earnest. "But I've known Gus Bonner for quite some time because he was with us in the SG Program almost since the beginning. He and his former SG team even fought alongside SG-1 on several occasions and never once did I ever get any indication that he was having second thoughts about what he was doing. If it's possible to get any answers from him, I'd like to have that opportunity to do so."

"I can understand that," Landry agreed. "But even if I did agree to get a hold of them, how would we do so? Even if we did find them, any situation that puts them in contact with another SG team would definitely cause tension between the two even if it was SG-1 doing the contacting."

"And that's where we're lucky," Daniel confessed, glad the General hadn't completely shot down his idea yet. "When they left, the vehicles they took were loaded with all sorts of technology and one of them happened to be a set of communication stones. That's how we found out as much about them as we have after Seattle…I mean Cadet Montoya was accidentally transferred over when they were first examining their gear."

Daniel's use of Seattle's first name was just indicative of how familiar he was with her and Ec'co. Both of them had been under his tutelage here on Earth before they'd fled through the Stargate with the rest and there were times when he missed having them around to bounce ideas off of about the Ancients. That they now had constant contact with Draa'ga made him jealous as well.

"Well I'm convinced," said Landry getting up. "At least as far as contacting them, that is. After General O'Neill and I have had a chance to debrief with Major Bonner, then we'll decide to give the go ahead with the mission or not."

"Great!" said Daniel pleased that everything was coming together. "And I for one volunteer myself to use the stones to swap places."

O'Neill and Landry looked at Daniel surprised by that.

"But this is your idea," O'Neill protested.

"I want to see the alien!" said Daniel in a mild whiny tone that he sometimes got when he wanted to do something like when he'd wanted to go through the Stargate to Atlantis with the rest of the first expedition. "Besides, you can explain the mission to Bonner well enough and I'll drop hints to the Cadets and we'll be fine."

"Fine!" O'Neill shot back in a slightly mocking tone before realizing he'd overstepped his boundary and looked Landry who waved his concern off.

"Then if we're all settled, tomorrow morning we'll make contact," said Landry pleased. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have more work to do so out, out!"

Landry herded the two others out the door and then shut it behind them. Walking back to his desk, he quickly accessed his computer and pulled up the necessary files relating to the SG-Infinity team. If he was going to be meeting their CO tomorrow, he had to have a good idea what he was up against.

* * *

><p>The next day: The SG-Infinity team was once more sitting around an early morning campfire eating some kind of gooey paste that Ec'co had cooked up.<p>

"I'm telling you, just let me shoot a couple of these woodland creatures and we could have some nice juicy steaks!" Harrison protested. He'd been craving a burger for some time now, but the Major had chosen to continue to adhere to SG rules which expressly forbade killing indigenous creatures for food unless under threat of starvation.

"The day you get that burger is the day the replicators stop replicating," Stacey scoffed at him. The two had always had a mildly antagonistic relationship with each other since they'd first met in boot camp. Seattle and Ec'co secretly wondered if there wasn't anything more to it, but they never voiced their feelings aloud to them as Harrison was likely too vain to admit caring about anyone but himself and Stacey would likely sock them for even thinking it.

"Major, are we going to spend some more time here or move on?" asked Ec'co curious. Gus looked around at their surroundings and the noticeable lack of activity from the Stargate.

"I haven't decided yet," he admitted. "But I was thinking…"

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

The team immediately went into defensive positions with their wrist laser gauntlets and assault weapons at the ready as Ec'co extended some spikes on his body that were useful in hand to hand combat but also held a staff weapon as an extra defense. Draa'ga for her part just stared out confused as she sensed no other presences nearby.

The beeping continued for several moments before the team lowered their weaponry when no immediate source for the beeping could be found. Major Bonner made some hand motions and the team immediately spread out to try and locate the source of the disturbance. And after several moments of searching they found it in the form of the device containing the communication stones.

"Are we actually getting a call?" asked Harrison incredulously. The box was designed to receive a request for link up so that they could know someone was on the other end in order to use the stones.

"Apparently," said Gus also amazed. Nothing had happened recently to them that would warrant SGC trying to get a hold of them…assuming it was them trying to call. But as far as they knew, no one else knew they had the stones in order to make communication in the first place.

"Well do we answer?" asked Stacey curious. Gus had trouble thinking up an answer for that.

"I don't know," he said, still amazed that this situation had developed. Sure it had been a shock when Seattle had accidentally used the stones the first time, but after that they'd locked the stones up never to be used again. In his wildest dreams he hadn't expected SGC to come to him, not after everything that had happened. "Ec'co, how do these stones work again?"

"I do not know the specifics only that by arranging the devices in an x-shaped pattern, it is possible to swap consciousness with an individual on the other end. Apparently it was adapted from technology originally created by the Ancients," the scientist explained.

"And if someone were to go through, how hard would it be for them to come back?" asked the Major next.

"It would be as simple as disconnecting the power supply to the device," Ec'co figured as he pulled out the instructions for the device and began familiarizing himself with them again. Gus took that into consideration as he stared at the box that had been opened and laid out on the back bench of the dune buggy that continued to beep.

"How do we know this isn't a trick?" Stacey pointed out. "They could be doing this to try and torture whoever uses the linkup."

"Well that'll be a waste. We really don't know any more now than we did when we left," muttered Harrison flippantly. That wasn't entirely true, the team had uncovered some evidence in their favor to try and paint a picture about what was really going on with the Lucian Alliance, but none of it was very concrete.

"It's a risk we'll have to take," Gus finally decided. "I'll use the stones alone to find out what's going on. In the meantime, I'll hand over my weapons and you should keep your distance. Find out who is in my body and if they decide to start causing problems, stun them and then pull the plug. Then go through the Stargate as an additional backup measure because I doubt these things would continue working after going through a wormhole."

"Got it," the others agreed.

"Use caution when telling the new arrival about us and our current situation. We're on our own out here and what our others don't know about us is to our advantage," Gus continued. "Seattle, you're in charge until I return."

"Yes sir," the cadet acknowledged. Harrison looked like he wanted to protest but knew better than to say anything aloud. Stacey also felt a little slighted but knew that Seattle was the most level headed of the three cadets. Ec'co for his part had only been on Earth as part of a cultural exchange program and thus held no rank to be assigned leadership.

"Well, better brace yourselves," said Gus as he took off his weapons and waited for the cadets to step back as he arranged the stones accordingly. "I promise I'll let your families know that…"

FLASH

"…You're safe," he concluded before realizing he was in completely new surroundings. He was in a small control room with electronic devices everywhere, but more importantly he was surrounding by armed personnel with M-16s all pointed at him.

"Safe indeed…," he commented ruefully as he rested his head on one of his hands wondering what else was going to happen. At least he knew whose body he was in by glancing at a tabletop mirror in front of him. That he was in Daniel Jackson's body gave him just a faint glimmer of hope in spite of his surroundings.

"State your name, rank, and personnel code," one of the soldiers demanded gruffly. Gus spun around in his chair and looked at the officer past the barrel of his rifle.

"My name is Major Gus Bonner of the SG-Infinity team," he began and then rattled off his ID code assigned to him by SGC all those years ago. The soldier then pointed up the barrel of his rifle and the Major stood up and was then escorted from the room and down a pair of corridors, all the while getting strange looks from personnel passing by who thought he was Daniel. But inwardly, Gus was silently glad to be once more walking through the Cheyenne Mountain facility again. He'd worked at this location for many years and memories of traversing these corridors to prep for SG missions with General Hammond and later Jack O'Neill flooded his senses. He was then escorted into the General's office where he found Jack sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the desk along with a man he didn't recognize at first.

"Do you feel safe now, Gus?" asked Jack lightly with a mild grin on his face before turning somber. Gus nodded his head in acknowledgment of the man.

"It's good to see you too, Jack," he responded before turning to the other man and finally placing him after a closer look. "If I remember correctly you're General Landry."

"That's right. I'm the one who is now in charge of Stargate Command. I believe we only met once during the orientation with you and the SG team leaders," Landry responded and then leaned over his desk and offered his hand to which Gus shook it. "You may leave us now gentlemen."

The soldiers looked hesitantly as Landry looked at Gus pointedly.

"I trust there will be no trouble?" he half asked, half warned. The Major shook his head at that.

"No sir," he agreed before chuckling. "Besides, I don't think Daniel would be happy with me if I returned his body in less than mint condition."

Jack chuckled inwardly at that, Gus had an ability like many SG team leaders to make light of any tense situation.

"But let me guess, we have a lot to talk about," Gus continued while turning somber. Jack nodded his head at that.

"You have no idea," he replied. He had said it before, he was eagerly anticipating this conversation for quite some time, but he also couldn't help but wonder how Daniel was getting along with the SG-Infinity team.

* * *

><p>Another world: Daniel Jackson found himself staring at a group of cadets with their weapons aimed at him.<p>

"Hey!" he said holding up his arms in surrender. "I come in peace."

"And just who are you to be making such an offer?" asked the one with blonde hair and an intense look on her face as she aimed her wrist laser threateningly at him. Looking around, Daniel was relieved when he found the familiar faces of Seattle and Ec'co who also aimed their weapons at him.

"Ec'co, Seattle, it's me, Daniel…Daniel Jackson," he pleaded with them. The two were a little taken aback by that statement and slightly lowered their weapons in response.

"Prove it," said Seattle not sure what else to say. Daniel thought back to some memory that had involved the three of them.

"When I first met you Ec'co, you had no idea who I was at the time," he told the two. "We met in the mess hall after you and Seattle had been introduced but before you were going to be introduced to me so you had no idea who I was. When Seattle showed up and you called her over to meet 'this nice man at SGC', she was so startled to see you talking to me, completely oblivious to who I was, that she dropped her paperwork all over the floor and Ec'co, you were so startled that you nearly drove one of your spikes through my hand. The two of you were so embarrassed that you both wanted to quit the internship program immediately and I had to encourage both of you to stay."

Ec'co and Seattle turned red at that as Harrison laughed his head off while Stacey finally wavered in her conviction to tie the man up until her uncle returned.

"We still don't know if he didn't just find out about this through some other source," she said stubbornly. Daniel was trying to think up another situation in his mind when a giant shadow fell over him from behind him.

"No," said a childlike voice. "I sense he is telling the truth."

Daniel's eyes widened as he looked at the outline of the shadow and then slowly turned to face the alien that towered over him.

"Hello Draa'ga," he said in awe despite himself. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to meet you."

The alien looked at him quizzically at that but lowered herself so they could be more at eye level.

"I am pleased to meet you as well," she said politely as she looked at him through reptilian eyes. "I feel you are thinking 'we have much to talk about'."

Daniel nodded his head vigorously at that. "You have no idea."

On two different worlds, it was already proving to be an interesting day.


	2. Chapter 2

SGC: "So what is so vitally important that you're actually willing to contact me about?" asked Gus extremely curious.

"We'll discuss that later if we decide to," began Jack dismissively.

"What we're really interested in hearing what happened in the events before, during, and after what happened on PR-6308," Landry concluded. Gus sighed heavily at that, he'd expected that this would be the primary reason they wanted to contact them and he'd secretly wished it wasn't. By asking him these questions, it meant they hadn't found any evidence to clear him of wrongdoing yet.

"I'm not even sure where to begin," he admitted, a little defeated and also reluctant to go over those terrible events. It had taken him a long time to try and come to terms with what had happened and even then he sometimes woke up suddenly thinking about his old team of SG-8 and vowing revenge on those for what had transpired.

"Start at the beginning, you were involved with gathering intelligence about the Lucian Alliance," stated Landry looking at his notes on his desk that he had taken.

"Alright," Gus agreed sighing heavily but willing to be debriefed on the subject. It's not like he hadn't given most of this information out before when he had been put on trial for what had happened. "As you said, after the Goa'uld were defeated, a group of mercenaries and other factions came together to try and form an alliance to fill the resulting power vacuum. SGC and SG-1 were primarily concerned with the Ori at the time and so it fell to the other SG teams such as my team, SG-8, to try and uncover what information we could about their organization and their plans for the galaxy."

Landry nodded his head at that, he was well aware of those events having taken command of SGC by then. General O'Neill however had been the one to task SG-8 and other teams with finding out more about the Alliance and when Landry had taken command, he hadn't seen any reason to change that assignment.

"So we investigated a number of different worlds looking for whatever scraps of information we could obtain," Gus continued. "We didn't find much at first, but it was like a trail of breadcrumbs and we kept at it as the weeks rolled on. And then we came across more solid pieces of information about the Alliance that we couldn't ignore or set aside."

"Which was?" asked Landry now really interested. Any insight into cracking the Alliance was well worth it in his mind, even if the possible source was possibly unreliable.

"I don't know even know if I should tell you," Gus confessed leaning back in his chair. "I can't really prove any of it, now, beyond information that both SG-8 and now the SG-Infinity team discovered; information that is pointing me in the same direction that cost me SG-8. Even then I don't know if it's true or if someone is just baiting me along the path to ruin."

"Or else you're trying to create a situation to earn you a promotion," Jack figured aloud and then realized he shouldn't have said that. Gus and Landry looked at him shocked at that statement before Gus chuckled to himself.

"If I was that clever I'd be a general right now," he said offhand. "Not that I'd accuse _you_ of that, Jack. Ha, ha, ha!"

Jack groaned at that as Landry chuckled inwardly at the comment before General O'Neill started laughing as well.

"Anyway, no," said Gus after a few moments passed. "If I am able to prove my innocence and the truth about the Alliance, and I will, I don't want a promotion or fanfare or anything. I just want to go back to work and I want the cadets absolved of all crimes over what happened when they left with me."

"So you're not responsible for what happened on PR-6308," said Jack a little angrily. An entire SG team had almost been lost and someone had to be held accountable for what had happened.

"I didn't say that," said Gus sadly. "In some ways I am responsible for what happened. My team did uncover evidence that led us to believe something big was going to go down on that planet. And I took it upon myself to issue the order to go there without any official input from Stargate Command. We went there, yes, but I didn't lead my team into an ambush that cost us a lot of good lives. We arrived late at night on that hellish planet and we were running on empty because we basically had to rush to get there. So we turn in for the night as lightning bolts are constantly flying overhead and hitting the giant crystals that grow on that world. The next thing I know I'm being woken up in the midst of a giant firefight with Alliance forces and arguing with SGC to let us through the gate since we were on a world we shouldn't have been."

"But the survivors claimed that…," began Landry a little accusatorily as he looked at the depositions.

"I know what they claimed!" Gus snapped at him before calming down. "They claimed that _I_ led them into that ambush during the night. I swear that's not true but I also know they wouldn't lie about this, either. If I had led them into that situation I would accept responsibility for it and the punishment. But again, I didn't!"

Gus looked more and more sullen as he thought about what had happened that fateful night on some planet out in the middle of far edge of the galaxy.

"And then there was the situation at SGC after your trial," Landry continued, knowing that it would only cause the Major more pain, but it had to asked.

"I can't explain that either," said Gus also at a loss. "I was in the bay when the Iris opened. My niece, Cadet Stacey Bonner, and a couple other workers saw me there because they were working on the prototype vehicles for off world travel. Next thing we know the Lucian Alliance forces are pouring through the gate firing everywhere and I'm trying to lead a bunch of cadets to repel them and Cadet R.J. Harrison claimed that I was the one responsible for opening the Iris in the first place at the same time I was down in the bay. We meet up with Cadet Seattle Montoya and the scientist Ec'co who barely stopped the Alliance from getting a hold of the alien that we now call Draa'ga that they were studying with Doctor Daniel Jackson."

That was a story in itself, but Jack asked next. "How does that lead to you taking the prototype exploration vehicles through the Stargate?"

"You know me, Jack, I sometimes come up with crazy ideas and not worry about the consequences," Gus reminded him. "The Alliance reset the Stargate to take them back to their point of origin and I took the cadets and Draa'ga in her caterpillar form through the gate where we blew up their gate room after fleeing for another world that I had been to previously during my early days with SGC. I tried to come back but you changed the IDC codes and well I'd like to not be atomized before somehow proving my innocence."

Landry took all of that in slowly. He had expected to learn a lot from the Major and he had been right. The problem he was in was lack of evidence to support his case. While what Daniel had said earlier was true, that the ensuing investigation had turned up several inconsistencies, he knew General O'Neill had made the right choice in giving Major Bonner a guilt verdict with the information they currently had and Bonner's testimonial along with the remains of his team. True the survivors of SG-8 continued to profess that while Major Bonner did lead the team into the ambush on PR-6308, they still stuck by him even after all that had happened, but that didn't excuse that it had happened in the first place. Plus there was no evidence that Major Bonner was under the influence of anything, whether brainwashing, Goa'uld possession, Ori influence, or anything else at the time…or now. It was all so confusing on top of everything else SGC was currently dealing with in regards to the Lucian Alliance and the Wraith.

"I just want you to know one thing. I would never betray Stargate Command," Major Bonner promised. "I've been with this program practically since it started because I happened to be in the wrong place at the right time when Apophis's forces came through that gate all those years ago and Hammond was assembling SG teams to go through the gate to other worlds. I earned my current rank because of my work here and the day I assumed command of SG-8 was one of the greatest days in my life. Since then I have gone to places I could only have dreamt of and fought enemies that are beyond the worst things my imagination could come up with. But I would never betray SGC for anything."

That gave Landry even more to mull over and he couldn't think where to go next.

"Gus?" asked Jack intently about something Landry didn't fully understand. "What's the best world?"

Gus looked at him straight in the eyes. "The next one."

Landry could tell that O'Neill was having the same thoughts he was and then he realized what his next question would be. The one piece of the puzzle Bonner had failed to divulge during his impassioned speech.

"What were expecting to find on PR-6308?" he asked bluntly. Gus looked a little downtrodden at that, remembering what he was he had expected and failed to find.

"The truth," was all he could respond with. "The truth about the Alliance and how they came to be formed in the first place."

"Which is?" asked Jack intently, since this was the genesis of the downfall of Gus Bonner and SG-8 and the creation of SG-Infinity.

"Do you really want to know what I think it is?" said Gus warning them. "Because you'll never believe me, you'll think I'm crazy. And I don't have much evidence at the moment to prove otherwise."

"Just tell us," Jack insisted. He needed to know what would cause Gus Bonner to make a decision that would ruin his career. Gus for his part just sighed heavily at that.

"Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," he told them while sitting straight up and turning serious. "The more I learned about the Alliance, the more I became suspicious about how they came about in the first place. Yes, I can understand that there was a power vacuum needing to be filled, but the Alliance sprung up almost overnight after Anubis and his forces were finally destroyed. A collective like that can't just suddenly exist. It would take time to mature to reach an agreement all of them could agree on."

That had been a concern of O'Neill's and Landry's as well. There were a lot of things about the Alliance that made little sense on the outset, but their formation was one of the more confusing aspects of the organization.

"As my team uncovered more and more information, we began to suspect that there was more to it. The members of the Alliance are unknowingly being led by a shadow organization, a race of beings from another galaxy finally making inroads into ours," Gus revealed. "Based on what we uncovered, I believed that race was going to make an appearance on PR-6308 and that's why we went, to find them."

"And did this race have a name?" asked Landry in a hushed tone. Regardless of the validity of the story, it did make an intriguing one to hear.

"Yes," said Gus nodding his head. "They call themselves the Tla'kahn."

Another world: Daniel Jackson sat with Ec'co and Seattle enjoying some moss soup while keeping his eyes on Draa'ga who was seen through the nearest batch of trees looking around with childlike curiosity.

"How soon did she turn into that form from the larval stage we found in the sarcophagus?" Daniel asked. Stacey and Harrison had decided to go on patrol leaving them behind at the camp.

"Within only a few days after going through the Stargate," Seattle told him. "We were on a wooded planet when she entered into a cocoon and emerged into the form you see there. It came in handy, she managed to heal a race of woodland creatures that had gotten sick and help us fend off an Alliance attack on them."

"Amazing," said Daniel clearing feeling the same way. "We uncovered her six months before you left after being in that sarcophagus for who knows how long and all she did was squirm around in a small cage. I wonder what changed."

"Perhaps it was finally travelling through the Stargate," Ec'co reasoned. Daniel nodded his head at that.

"That's a good point," he told him with a smile. "See, I told you that you had something to contribute to SGC."

"Thank you Doctor Jackson," answered Ec'co, clearly pleased with the compliment. SG-1 had been the team to contact his people and while they were technologically advanced and had experience using the Stargate beforehand, Dr. Jackson had brought a number of contributions to their scientific understanding of the universe. As such he was a highly honored member of their society.

"Is it true she managed to open a Stargate with just her mind?" he asked next. Seattle nodded her head at that.

"According to Stacey and the Major's descriptions, yes," she told him. "Ec'co, Harrison and I were on a different world at the time to try and gather supplies and the Alliance came through the gate where they were. They had them trapped against the gate with no chance of reaching the DHD when Draa'ga somehow activated the Gate just by touching it. The ring didn't even move and none of the chevrons locked in, but it still created a stable wormhole just long enough for them to escape."

Daniel's jaw dropped at that. He'd heard the rumors about what the creature had done through reports obtained from captured Alliance bases, but to hear it firsthand was something else. Needless to say it made them very interested in her because that power being demonstrated meant that entire worlds could potentially be accessible once more.

"That's what we thought," said Seattle with a grin on her face.

"Well have you come any further in figuring out 'what' she is?" asked Daniel next. The two young scientists both shook their heads.

"Nothing definitive," Ec'co responded. "She is definitely connected to the Stargate, but how we're still not sure. I believe you first suspected she may have even been one of the original Goa'uld based on her original form, but dismissed it as her genetic structure had nothing in common with theirs. She is clearly not an Ancient either, but again her ability to manipulate the Stargate means her species must have had contact with them at some point. It is all so confusing."

"Well you could tell him Harrison's theory," said Seattle with a conspiratorial smile on her face before she drank some soup. If Ec'co's eye could have rolled at that suggestion, it would have.

"I'd rather not," he said dismissively and slightly embarrassed. Daniel looked at the two of them confused.

"I'd be more than willing to hear it," he told them. Any theory would be useful to help him further formulate a theory about what Draa'ga was.

"Fine," Ec'co huffed as Seattle's grin grew wider. "He suspects she might be a Furling, one of the four races that allied against the Goa'uld."

That was another idea Daniel hadn't considered. After all these years of never finding any evidence about the Furlings, even in the Ancient and Asgard Databases, he had almost given up hope of ever discovering them.

"Why does he think that?" the scientist implored. In the reports he'd read, Harrison was a hotshot pilot and not one particularly inclined towards the sciences. But if he thought that's what she was, he likely had a good reason for thinking so.

"Because he feels that Furling doesn't refer to her species having fur, but rather the un'furling' of her wings," Ec'co told him and then dropped his head into his hands too embarrassed to having actually told Dr. Jackson that. Seattle for her part was laughing so hard she nearly fell off the log she was sitting on.

Still, as goofy as the reasoning was, Daniel couldn't just discount the possibility. After all, a Furling having wings seemed less ridiculous than the thought of them being living Teddy Bears.

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

The two SG-Infinity members looked at the vehicles as Daniel narrowed his eyes wondering what that noise was coming from.

"I'll deal with it. It's probably hungry and I'll take it for a walk," Seattle offered and walked over to her motorcycle. Daniel watched her go confused.

"Do you have some sort of animal with you?" he asked. Having pets from other worlds wasn't a violation of SGC rules for fear of communicable diseases.

"Not exactly," responded Ec'co cryptically. "But Seattle likes to think of it as a pet."

Seattle went to a case attached to the rear of her vehicle and popped the two clasps on it to open it and then reached inside for something. When she turned around, Daniel was so stunned that he fell off his log.

In Seattle's outstretched hands was a Replicator.

Earth: "Tla'kahn?" asked Landry testing out this new word that he'd just learned.

"Yep," said Gus nonplussed. "They're supposedly a long lived race of warriors who may have even visited Earth long ago and been responsible for the Mayan Pyramids. Or at least, that's what I gathered from the scraps of information SG-8 found."

"Yeah, but from where?" said Jack a little doubtful about where he had found this information. "You said they were a shadow organization."

"That's right," Gus confirmed. "But from our investigations, we came across the remains of a few bases held by one of the Alliance factions. From the looks of things, they found out about these Tla'kahn and since they shadow organization couldn't let themselves be discovered, they came down on this Alliance member. And we recovered a group of badly damaged records accordingly."

"You sure it wasn't just put there for you to find?" Jack pointed out. He sincerely hoped that Gus wouldn't be done in by a hoax.

"That's what I thought at first, but we found similar pieces of information across multiple locations on multiple planets and these places were trashed almost beyond recognition. We found energy signatures that weren't in any of our records and wreckage that didn't correspond to anything else either. Evidently these Tla'kahn use some kind of fighter with a front bubble canopy to allow for a good line of sight to any target," Gus continued. "But like I said, these Alliance members were keeping track of where they thought these Tla'kahn were going and PR-6308 seemed like it was a likely destination and they were going to be there soon. We didn't have time to tell you back at base because by the time you responded we'd probably have missed them. And so we jumped. I think they knew we were on to them and that's why they planned that ambush. I just don't know how my team was supposedly led by me right into it."

Jack tried to run through his head all the things as he looked at the deposition reports and testimony that had been given to him during the trial.

"Do you regret that decision?" asked Landry wanting to know.

"Every day," Gus admitted slowly nodding his head. "That's why I have to prove my innocence and that the Tla'kahn are out there. It's the only way I can make it up to them."

Gus turned grim at that prospect but then shrugged and returned to a more neutral state. Undoubtedly he was well aware of what a difficult prospect that would be, especially without the help of SGC in finding an enemy that may or may not exist. Nevertheless, Landry jotted down a note about looking that name up in the databases later.

"Why didn't you mention all of this during the trial?" Jack demanded, a little irate. "You just said you were convinced there was an Alliance meeting on PR-6308. You said nothing about any Tla'kahn and a shadow organization."

"I wanted to," Gus insisted. "But after the ambush it became clear that someone was onto me. I couldn't risk telling that information publicly, especially without proof, and so I kept silent. I would've told General Landry in private but I didn't know him that well. I really wanted to tell you but I never got the chance. I'm sorry, I really am. I handled it poorly, I realize that now. But if I said something aloud, then who knows what these aliens would've done next. That they managed to frame me when attacking SGC to get their hands on that alien and are now trying to kill me as well I think is a message in itself. I couldn't take that risk then, especially with my team gone. And let's face it this story is so ridiculous even I can barely believe it."

Jack scratched the back of his head in a mixture of emotions from anger to understanding and everything in between. Landry again took all this information in as he weighed his judgment on the whole situation.

"Have you found out anything else since then?" asked Landry.

"Bits and pieces but again nothing concrete," Gus responded. "I'm pursuing a lead right now that I think might give me something solid on these aliens. I'd tell you more, but I need to do this alone. As for proving my innocence with the Alliance incursion, I was hoping to have the opportunity to do that while I'm still here."

"I see," said Landry noncommittally. "Well General O'Neill and I have a few things to talk about first. I'm afraid you'll have to spend some time under house arrest until we're done."

"I understand," Gus told them, expecting as much. "Well thank you for at least agreeing to hear me out. I'm just sorry I couldn't prove my innocence yet."

"If it was that easy, I doubt we'd have been having this conversation in the first place," said Jack trying to inject a little humor into the situation. Gus gave a light smile at that as Landry called in the troops.

"Please escort Major Bonner to Doctor Jackson's office for now," he ordered and the Major was escorted from the room. After he was gone and the door shut, Landry turned and looked at General O'Neill curious.

"What do you think?" he asked. Needless to say that was the question of the millennium when it came to Major Bonner and his problems.

"I need a beer," Jack concluded getting up.

"I hear that," Landry agreed and the two left the room.

Hallway: Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was wandering down hallway after hallway of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex before realizing he was hopelessly lost. He had stopped by to deliver his report to Colonel Carter who had gated in just to speak with him. He found his way to give her the report and then on his way back out to find a transport back to Atlantis found himself in the situation he was now in. The only saving grace was that McKay wasn't with him otherwise he'd likely be getting an earful right now.

"I think I'll go left," he decided at a new junction. He made his turn and was walking down the hall when he saw a curious sight of Daniel Jackson being escorted by a group of armed guards towards him. He wisely stepped to the side to let them pass all the while looking at the scientist who was lost in his own thoughts.

"Hi Daniel," John offered weakly to at least not appear rude. Daniel looked up at him with a weak grin.

"Hey Harley," Daniel remarked lightly and then continued off down the hall. John was about to head back down the hall when the weight of what Daniel had said to him sunk in and he immediately caught up with the doctor once more.

"What did you call me?" he demanded a little irate.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Daniel lying.

"Sir, you shouldn't be here," stated one of the soldiers curtly.

"Can it!" said John in a rare outburst. "You called me Harley. Very few people know me by that nickname and only one really knows why I'm called that. So how did you find out? He swore he'd never tell anyone."

Daniel nodded his head and then gave a sly grin that John instantly recognized. "I'm hurt. You don't give me enough credit, Shep."

John looked at Daniel in shock.

"Gus?" he stated amazed. Daniel nodded his head.

"Been a long time, John," Gus admitted before looking at his rank insignia. "Congratulations on the promotion, I knew you'd get it before I did."

John stopped at that statement as Gus was silently escorted away. A moment later Vala Mal Doran appeared next to him.

"Are my eyes deceiving me, have my dreams come true?" she asked in a melodramatic fashion. "Has Daniel finally become a bad boy?"

John refused to give her the benefit of a response and just left her alone in the hallway. He had a lot to think about and he knew he wasn't leaving SGC anytime soon. Not without some answers first from his old friend, Gus Bonner.

Another world: Daniel backed away from Seattle and her little companion in her arms as she and Ec'co looked at him confused.

"What's wrong?" Seattle asked.

"Do you have any idea what that is?" he shouted at them. Seattle was a cadet and Ec'co a junior scientist, but they had to know the history of SGC and the major foes they had dealt with over the years.

"Yes, it's a Replicator," Seattle began slowly. "I'm not sure what the problem is."

"Those things have caused more damage to this galaxy than the Goa'uld, Ori, and Wraith combined!" Daniel shouted.

"Yes, but not this one," said Seattle petting the thing as if really were a pet. "He's domesticated and wouldn't hurt anyone. Let's go, Jetsam, I think we can tell when we're not wanted."

She then produced a leash and tied it to the machine and then set it down and the two walked off towards the forest as Daniel could only gape at the two of them. He certainly hadn't heard of the SG-Infinity team possessing something that dangerous.

"She's reduced one of the greatest scourges of the galaxy into a Chihuahua!" Daniel exclaimed to Ec'co. "I'm glad they Replicators are gone, but even I feel insulted by this!"

"I share a similar sentiment," Ec'co agreed. "My people had a number of outposts on other worlds that were devastated by the Replicators. But I also know what they're capable of and that's why we managed to reprogram this one unit to be obedient. Without it, we'd been in dire straits."

"How so?" asked Daniel doubtful, but willing to at least hear the alien out.

"You have to understand that we're out here pretty much dialing blind," Ec'co told him. "We can't go to many civilized worlds because we'd risk being discovered by the Alliance. But you know very well that there are Stargates out there that either don't have DHDs or are on worlds that are no longer habitable. But we don't have any Mobile Analytic Probes with us and if we did we'd have lost them rather quickly as soon as we discovered any uninhabitable worlds. We needed something that could not only go to another world and report back but also have the ability to activate the Stargate come back to us to be reused again and again. The Replicator was the best choice we had amongst the limited options available to us. It is docile unless someone is threatening us and only programmed to replicate under certain circumstances, each holding the same programming as the original, and then once the situation has passed or we issue the order, they break down until one remains. It works as a deterrent when faced with overwhelming odds."

Daniel still didn't like it, but desperate times did call for desperate measures. The IOA felt the same way not too long ago when they had custom made a Replicator to take out the Ori's Priors not to mention their entire civilization. But they acted true to form and had nearly destroyed the Odyssey in the process before finally being stopped. Daniel couldn't attest to the programming capabilities of this team, but as long as even one Replicator existed, the entire universe was at risk. He just prayed the programming held, but he needed to tell General Landry about this as soon as he got back to his own body.

"I sense you are not pleased," said Draa'ga having emerged from the forest in the meantime.

"You don't know the half of it," Daniel admitted before turning to the alien. "But don't worry about me and my concerns. What I really want is to have the chance to chat with you."

"I would be happy to 'chew the fat' with you," she said to Daniel's dismay at her using such vernacular despite being such a regal and innocent creature.

"What have you done to her?" he accused after turning to Ec'co.

"Blame Harrison," was the alien's response. "He felt her learning slang and other Earth idioms would better help her integrate with their culture."

"I'll kill him!" Daniel swore despite himself. Ec'co chuckled at that.

"You may need to get in line," he observed. From the treeline Harrison ran for his life as Stacey angrily raced after him in her ATV completely covered in mud as the fighter jock held his stomach he was laughing so hard at whatever had transpired.

Earth: Gus sat at Daniel's desk with his feet propped up as he read through a book the scientist had composed about the Ancients expecting Landry and Jack to be debating for quite some time on his situation. He was nevertheless surprised when the door opened a mere fifteen minutes later and John Sheppard poked his head on.

"C'mon, let's go for a walk," he ordered. Gus looked at him uncertainly at that.

"I don't think…," he began when John held up a hand silencing him.

"Since when are either of us one for the rules?" he pointed out with a grin. Gus chuckled at that.

"I suppose you have a point," he agreed. "Besides, judging from the way you were wandering down that corridor, I'd say you got lost, again, and need my help to find your way out of here. Am I right?"

"As your superior officer, I don't have to answer that question. But I do order to tell me just what the heck you've been up to for these past two years," John responded as both of them laughed hard down the hallway.


	3. Chapter 3

SGC: General's Jack O'Neill and Hank Landry sat in the conference room overlooking the Stargate drinking some beers that Jack had smuggled in some years ago and hid in a refrigerator in the infirmary as they poured over all the information they had previously collected about the case as well as listened on the recorded conversation they'd just had with Major Bonner.

"What do you think?" asked Hank curious.

"What do you think?" Jack repeated back at him. Hank just held up his hands in defeat.

"I think you made the right choice in giving him the guilt verdict," Landry began. "There's just not enough evidence to acquit him, besides the inconsistencies that he brought up."

"Thanks," said Jack, but not happy about that fact. "I've known Gus Bonner for years now and he worked hard to earn his spot as leader of SG-8. I just don't know where things went wrong…not so much with ending up on that planet, but why he can't admit to what happened."

"So you still think he's guilty?" Landry pointed out. Jack shifted uneasily at that.

"Sam's always telling me the simplest explanation is often the one that's right," he responded in reference to Colonel Samantha Carter. "I think what might have happened was that he led his team into that ambush and he can't bring himself to admit it and so he came up with this story to absolve him of guilt."

Landry did think that sounded like a reasonable explanation. But both knew it didn't explain why the Lucian Alliance was still after him. It would be one thing to burn bridges with SGC, but to have their one major opposition on him as well basically left the Major with no allies. Jack knew Gus wasn't that foolish and Landry didn't get that impression either from their conversation.

"So do these Tla'kahn exist?" asked Landry next. Jack shrugged.

"I've got Sam looking into it. Daniel too once he gets back," the General responded. "I hope they find something, but I won't hold my breath."

"So do we still give them the mission?" asked Landry finally. Jack gave him a sideways glance.

"This is your command," he told him.

"You outrank me," Landry shot back wryly. Jack sighed.

"I think we only have one option available to us," he pointed out. Landry nodded his head.

"I agree," he stated and both finished their drinks and then left the conference room together.

Another world: "So do you think these Tla'kahn exist?" asked Daniel having listened to Ec'co's story as Draa'ga listened in.

"I believe so," Ec'co admitted. "We have encountered scattered pieces of an unknown type of technology on worlds where Lucian Alliance posts have been devastated. We've also discovered footprints and other scraps of information on what these creatures might look like."

"Which would be?" asked Daniel.

"I believe them to be reptilian in nature and bipedal. They're a violent warlike race but also extremely patient if Major Bonner's shadow organization is to be believed, otherwise then we'd have heard something them before now," Ec'co answered. "I can understand if you don't believe us, though."

"No, I'll never dismiss anything without proof," Daniel disagreed with him before turning to Draa'ga. "Do you think they're telling the truth?"

"Yes," said the alien with certainty. Daniel grinned at that.

"Do you believe what I said is the truth?" he asked next. The alien gave a smile.

"Yes," she agreed. The scientist nodded his head and now there was silence amongst the trio.

"Why have you come?" asked Draa'ga curious. "I sense there is something more to your presence than you are admitting to."

Daniel looked up at her impressed by her psychic abilities and nodded affirmatively. He didn't know if Jack and Hank would agree to send them on this mission, but he felt they still deserved to know why they had been contacted after so much time.

"Does the name 'Destiny' mean anything to you?" he asked the alien of unknown origin.

"The future that will be," said Draa'ga simply. Daniel nodded his head.

"Yes, that's what the word means, but I wanted to know if the name Destiny meant anything to you," he asked hopeful. Draa'ga thought long and hard about that one.

"Ride the winds," she answered cryptically and then moved off away from them. Daniel watched her go before turning back to Ec'co as Draa'ga stopped and used one of the pointer fingers on the end of her claws to dig into the ground.

"I take it, that it is a ship, planet, or structure only accessible through extreme means?" asked Ec'co insightfully.

"That's right," Daniel confirmed. "It's a ship built by the Ancients requiring a ninth chevron to reach."

Ec'co whistled at that.

"What would provide such power?" Ec'co inquired. "Clearly not a Zero Point Module."

"Nope, you're right. We need a planet with a naquadriah core," the scientist told him. Ecco's mouth dropped open at that in shock.

"Does that mean something to you?" Daniel demanded.

"You might say that," Ec'co answered him. "Many years ago my people found a planet through the Stargate with what they later suspected had a naquadriah core. It was there that they performed a number of experiments using the Stargate."

Daniel leaned forward. "I did not know that. Is that planet still around, would your people be willing to let us use it?"

Ec'co shook his head. "Many years ago an experiment went wrong and the planet exploded. If you're looking for such a planet, I would caution you that the risks of reaching this ship may be too great against any reward. Plus if you were to reach this ship, there would be a strong possibility you would not be able to return so easily."

Daniel sighed at that and leaned back on his log.

"You don't know the half of it," he confessed.

Earth: "So how're things on Atlantis?" asked Gus of his old friend. "I heard you stopped the Wraith invasion with the help of the Daedalus."

The two of them were lounging out the main entrance to the complex as personnel and vehicles constantly rolled by.

"That's right we did," John agreed. "Just how long have you been gone anyway?"

"I'm not really sure. Around two years I think. I was never good at astronomy or calendars for that matter," Gus reminded him. John nodded his head at that.

"Course you weren't any good with motorcycles either as I recall," Gus laughed as John scowled at that.

"It was your idea in the first place to take the commander's bike out for a spin," John distinctly recalled.

"And you wanted to show me up by riding it first," Gus concluded. "Well it's not like it mattered since we both got busted for it."

"Except the base commander never let me hear the end of it," John complained.

"Ah the dangers of bootleg hooch," Gus laughed before changing tracks. "But seriously, congratulations on your promotion."

"Thanks," said John. "It wasn't really a fair competition though, was it? Not after what happened."

"Ah, don't look at it that way," said Gus dismissively. "I did what I had to because I thought that what I was doing was right."

"You didn't betray SGC did you?" John had to ask.

"No," said Gus as if that should be obvious. "But I did take my team to PR-6308 and I should've expected consequences. Just not the ones I got."

John tried to remember all the details of what had happened to Gus and SG-8.

"Do you think there's a traitor in SGC?" John pointed out, that being the logical conclusion of Gus's situation if what he said was true. If Gus had really been in two places that day, it possibly even implied a shapeshifter might have been involved.

"I don't want to cause a witch hunt without just cause," said Gus reluctantly. "But if you could look into it on my behalf, I wouldn't complain. I'd do it myself, but I doubt I'll ever be welcomed back if I can't prove what really happened on PR-6308."

"Which was?" asked John. Gus waved his question off.

"Let me worry about that," he told him. "Once you prove my innocence here I'll be able to honor that bet we made all those years ago."

John turned sour at that. "I don't smoke anymore to need that carton."

"That's not my problem. But I'm sure getting enough alcohol to match your weight will help out," said Gus with a big grin before consulting his watch. "Shouldn't you be off to your transport or something? I mean Atlantis is a few weeks journey away."

John laughed at Gus being out of the loop for so long.

"Atlantis is on Earth now," he informed him. Gus looked amazed at that.

"Wow," Gus said impressed. "I wish I could go and see it. Course my science officer would probably kill me for seeing it before he does."

"And I don't think the Generals would appreciate it, either," John reminded him.

"You got that right," said General O'Neill as he and General Landry emerged from the base into the open air.

"I take responsibility for letting Major Bonner out of his cage," John admitted upfront. Jack waved off that concern.

"We've still had eyes on you this whole time," he told the duo. "Colonel, I'm sure you hate goodbyes, but it's time to make your exit."

John nodded his head affirmatively as the two Generals gave him their space. John did have work to get back to.

"Adios muchacho," he said simply. Gus gave him a smirk at that.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he said lightly before turning serious. "Actually, I do need one more favor."

"Name it," said John immediately.

"Find the families of the cadets under my wing and tell them that I promise I'll bring them back alive," Gus swore. John Sheppard gave him a grin and tipped his head at him and left without another word. The Major then walked over to the two Generals who were waiting for him.

"So what do you have to tell me now?" he asked. "Am I finally going back?"

"Not just yet," said Landry. "First we have one more thing to discuss."

Another world: "Amazing," said Ec'co. The entire team of cadets was semi-circled around Daniel as he related the story of everything that had happened to the crew of the Destiny up until that point.

"Good to know some people are in as worse shape as we are," said Harrison aloud and was subsequently hit hard in the ribs by Stacey's elbow for his comment.

"I can only imagine the dangers of needing a planet with a naquadriah core, though," commented Seattle. She had the Replicator cradled on her lap after feeding it some power from a device Daniel didn't recognize.

"We've lost two planets already trying to dial it," Daniel told them before he amended. "Well, we lost one and the Alliance lost another. Now it's just a race to find the next one to dial the ship."

"I'm not sure why you're so interested in a hunk of junk in the middle of nowhere," Stacey confessed as Harrison nodded in agreement. "I mean don't get me wrong, we need to get those people back, but as far as sending more…from the sounds of things the ship's about to fall apart soon anyway."

"I know," Daniel agreed. "But that ship is a goldmine of information about the Ancients that we can only dream of at the moment. It may even hold the key to understanding the Ascension process or even the underlying structure of the fabric of the universe."

"If you say so," said Stacey still unconvinced it was worth the effort to try and save the ship. "So what would you need from us?"

"Since you're jumping around so much, I'm hoping that you'll eventually run across a planet with what we're looking for and let us know," Daniel told them. The cadets and Ec'co perked up at that.

"A mission, really?" they all said excited. Daniel held up his hands to warn them.

"I can't assign it to you because that's up to General Landry," he informed them. "But if you were to find this planet and let us know, it'd be to your benefit about proving your loyalty to SGC."

"I'll check my records right away," said Ec'co heading for the dune buggy. The others watched him go before turning to Daniel.

"Thanks for caring about us," said Seattle touched.

"I just want my two interns back," he confessed jokingly. "I got used to having you two around. Now it seems like my workload is getting heavier and heavier by the day not that we found Destiny."

Seattle chuckled lightly at that as Jetsam seemed to react to her mood and chirped accordingly.

"I suppose it would be kind of fun to fly one of the oldest ships in existence," Harrison said a little dreamily.

"Yeah, I mean why wait for the ship to fall apart when you can fly into the nearest sun and destroy it," Stacey accused as Harrison steamed at that comment about his flying abilities. Seattle also laughed at that as Daniel shook his head bemused.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The group looked over at the stones device as it began making the same noise it had at the beginning.

"Well, looks I'm off," Daniel told them as he stood up headed for the dune buggy. "It's been a real pleasure meeting all of you and I really do hope we get back in touch soon. Ec'co, Seattle, if there's any way I could get a hold of whatever scientific research you've been doing out here, I'd appreciate it."

"We'll do our best," Ec'co promised. Daniel patted him on the shoulder before looking over at Seattle and her 'pet'.

"That thing is a danger and I really think you're better off destroying it," he said, repeating an earlier sentiment. Seattle shook her head but otherwise said nothing in response, just clutched the machine closer to her chest protectively.

"We'll…talk about it," Ec'co promised reassuringly. Though even he knew they wouldn't get far as Seattle was very protective of her pet and they did need it to survive out here in the harsh unknown. Major Bonner had felt the same way about the Replicators but when they'd stumbled upon that Asgard Core oh so long ago, he knew one of them would be a lot more helpful for their situation.

Earth: "A Replicator?" shouted Jack in shock. Gus gave him a mild grin as he sat in a chair in front of the Ancient Communication Stones.

"Yeah," he said offhand. "Use what you can to your advantage, I say."

"Oh, I'm never going to hear the end of it from HWC and the IOA if they find out about this," the General groaned. "Course I'm sure the IOA would love to get their hands on it."

"You bring me home, I won't need to have it around anymore," Gus pointed out. Jack shook his head lightly.

"Get out of here," he ordered. Gus gave him a mild salute before turning melancholic at that.

"General, I want you to know that you made the right decision," the Major said, in allusion to his trial and the resulting verdict. "I just hope I get the opportunity to prove you wrong."

"I hope you do too," answered Jack softly. Gus was about to hit the button when another thought occurred to him.

"Oh, if we find any more Ancient repositories of information, I'd be sure to pass them along to you," he said and began laughing hard at that as Jack growled at him and slammed the button to send him home.

Another world: "Be sure to tell Draa'ga I said goodbye," Daniel told the team as the alien was still over in the clearing drawing something with her claws.

"I'm sure she already knows, but we will," Seattle promised. Daniel nodded and was about to press the button to send him home when one more nagging thought occurred to him.

"Why is she called Draa'ga anyway?" he had to ask. Perhaps it held some symbolic meaning that would give him further insight into the Ancients…or the Furlings.

"Oh that's easy," Harrison laughed. "When she finally looked like she is now, she reminded me of my first grade teacher. We used to call her 'The Dragon Lady' and so she began calling herself Draa'ga."

Daniel was so stunned by that response that he couldn't muster one of his own and found himself back in his own body before he could muster any coherent thought.

"Daniel?" asked Jack, concerned at his lack of response. Finally the scientist realized where he was.

"I don't believe, I just don't believe it," he said, still in shock. He then got up and slowly headed for the door.

"Wait, what did you learn?" Jack demanded. The SG-Infinity team was largely a mystery to SG Command and any thing he learned would be useful.

"RJ Harrison should never be allowed to join the Stargate Program, ever," Daniel concluded and then was gone from the room. Jack watched him go at a loss before laughing heartily at that. He'd been told the same thing by Stargate Human Resources but in some ways he found the cadet to be like himself at that age. Hopefully his time out there amongst the planets tempered him and the rest of his team. In time perhaps they could all lead their own SG teams, if they could ever prove their innocence.

"Sir?" came a voice from nowhere that caused the General to jump he'd been so lost in his thoughts.

"What is it, Sam?" asked Jack to the absent Colonel Samantha Carter.

"I've found the results of that query you want to me to run," she told him. "Do you need me to come down and give them to you?"

Jack was about to say yes when an amusing thought crossed his mind.

"No, I'll just come up there," he told her. "Beam me up, Sammy!"

"That's not funny, sir," Colonel Carter responded immediately.

"Yes it wa-," and then he was gone from the room in a brilliant flash.

Another world: Gus Bonner blinked his eyes and felt a little woozy from the suddenly change in bodies as he looked at his team who were watching him expectantly.

"How did it go?" they asked impatiently. Gus shrugged as he put the stones away and closed the box before securing it in the vehicle.

"About as I expected," he told them simply. "I still need to prove my innocence, all of our innocence, before we're allowed to go home."

The others turned glum about that before wondering about the next piece of business.

"So is SGC going to let us go search for that planet?" they all asked again in unison. The tone in their voice was obvious. They needed this one glimmer of hope in their lives that they might have a positive future ahead of them.

"Oh that," Gus realized before turning solemn. "Look, I know how much you've all had to suffer out here without knowing what the next day holds and with a mission to somehow prove our innocence. I'm sorry for the lack of normalcy, I really am. Especially since SGC really doesn't want anything to do with us."

The cadets turned really downtrodden at that. Gus looked them all before a slow smile broke across his face.

"Or should I say, _didn't_ want anything to do with us," the Major amended as a look of hope dawned on the others faces. "I don't know what Daniel Jackson did to convince them, but for the first time in nearly two years, the SG-Infinity team has been assigned a mission by Stargate Command."

The cadets broke out into jubilation as Gus tried to calm them down.

"It's an unofficial mission!" he told them, not that that dampened their spirits. "And it's only if we happen to stumble across such a planet, we're not to go looking for it. That being said, let's roll out!"

The team nodded as they raced to their vehicles as Ec'co who was prepping the buggy pulled out a device that Daniel hadn't seen on his trip.

"I take it our other secret is still safe?" he asked while looking over as Seattle secured Jetsam in his case.

"That's correct," Ec'co responded as he pulled out a Zero Point Module that looked practically brand new. He then produced another device that had one large opening on one side and a smaller one on the other. He then plugged the ZPM into it and then produced another device that looked like a miniature ZPM and plugged that into the other end. Both devices powered up and then Ec'co removed the smaller one and walked over to the DHD with it.

"Harrison, go get Draa'ga," Gus ordered to the fighter jock. He looked at the alien still in the clearing and ran off towards her.

"Hey, Draa'ga let's go!" ordered Harrison. The alien continued drawing on the ground almost as in a trance. It wasn't until she Harrison put his hand on her shoulder that she snapped out of her reverie.

"It's a nice drawing, what is it?" asked the fighter pilot as he looked at the image she had clawed into the Earth.

"I do not know," admitted Draa'ga as she regarded the image. Harrison produced a small camera and took a snapshot of it.

"Well I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually," he told her. "Now c'mon, we're leaving."

Draa'ga nodded and got up to join them when a small wind brushed across her face and a single leaf floated past. She then looked at the ship and smiled.

"Fatum," she remarked simply in a language that Harrison didn't understand. Instead he motioned for her to join them and they rejoined the group as the Stargate began the dialing sequence.

"Where we headed to now?" asked Stacey curious as she put her helmet on and revved her ATV.

"According to the latest intel we uncovered, I think the Tla'kahn may have had a fortress somewhere in the Andromeda Galaxy," Ec'co told them. "We've got the DHD all charged up with our 'ZPM in a Can' and we're ready to jump."

"How come you didn't tell Daniel about our Ancient Device that can power up a Stargate long enough to make cross galaxy jumps?" wonder Harrison aloud.

"If they knew that we had the power source to jump galaxies when we chose, the whole landscape of the conflict between SGC and the Lucian Alliance would change drastically," Gus reminded them. "That's why we're keeping this such a secret."

"Is there any way we could use the cans to make our way to the Destiny?" Seattle asked. Gus shook his head.

"We don't even know where that ship is," he told her. "And even then, the power in a ZPM is not limitless. It could easily give out part way through and then we'd never get there or back. We have to use this thing conservatively which is why we're only jumping out to nearby galaxies so if we need to be rescued, we can."

The eighth chevron locked in and the wormhole fired up.

"Time's a wasting people. It's like I always say, the best world is always the next one. So let's move 'em out," Gus ordered. The three vehicles roared into the wild blue wormhole and vanished as Harrison fired up his jetpack and went through as well, leaving a world behind that had changed their lives in so short a time.

Above the Earth: Jack was drinking some coffee as he stood by Colonel Samantha Carter who was operating the Asgard Core onboard the Daedalus-Class Cruiser Odyssey.

"I don't think this stuff tastes as good as the real thing," the General complained since the Core had made the coffee he was currently drinking.

"Maybe it's an acquired taste," Sam responded offhand as she pressed some more buttons.

"So what did you find?" asked Jack curious. If there was proof these Tla'kahn existed, it meant that Bonner's story might have some truth to it.

"After running every variation of the word you mentioned, I came up with this," Sam answered. On the interface the word Tla'kahn appeared and next to it the words 'One entry found' appeared.

"Well that's a start," said Jack positively. Sam shook her head.

"Not just yet," she responded. She hit the appropriate buttons and for the word Tla'kahn it simply read 'Unknown'.

"Great," said Jack rolling his eyes clearly annoyed. Sam nodded her head.

"That's what I thought too," she agreed. "And then I realized there was a second page."

She hit a button and a new image popped up on the screen.

"It can't be…," said Jack at a loss. The image was a blurry one but it was clearly of a bipedal lizard with a staff weapon in its hands.

Another world: The animals were going back to their regular lives after the departure of the new arrivals through the ringed object. And then just as soon as they'd settled back into their routines, once more the device activated followed by a blue geyser seemingly erupting from the side of the ring and then flowing backwards and settling for a few moments.

ROARRRRR

From the blue waters a giant tank of unknown origin emerged and rolled down in the meadow throwing up grass and dirt before settling to a halt and scanned the area around it. After a few moments the turret stopped moving and the top hatch opened and two large bipedal lizards emerged from it and hopped to the ground below.

"We appear to have just missed them Commander Da'Kyll," said one of the aliens to its companion. The one called Da'Kyll nodded his head in agreement as he noticed the tracks leading to and from the Stargate.

"A shame, Pahk'kall, but one that couldn't be helped," Da'kyll told him calmly. "We only found out about their arrival here some time after they had made the jump."

Pahk'kall nodded his head and the two fanned out to search for any clues but largely found none.

"What do you make of this, commander?" Pahk'kall asked looking down at a drawing etched in the ground.

"I do not know," the Commander responded. "But it is of no concern to us. All that matters is finding and stopping Gus Bonner before he has a chance to prove our existence. The Lucian Alliance still has much more work to do before we can finally show ourselves to this galaxy and conquer it."

"Which is why we must find Gus Bonner, now!" exclaimed Pahk'kall. Da'kyll laughed at that before giving a reassuring pat on the shoulder to his companion.

"We must be patient," he told him. "Our species has outlasted all of its contemporaries thus far by not making foolish mistakes. The Ancients, the Asgard, the Goa'uld the Ori, the Replicators, none of them are a concern to us anymore and soon neither will these pesky humans. Major Bonner will fall before us, we need only gather enough intelligence to make a quick and accurate strike against Bonner and this will all be over. THEN NO ONE WILL STAND AGAINST US AS WE CRUSH ALL OF OUR ENEMIES!"

"Yes, Commander!" said Pahk'kall excitedly as he walked to the DHD and plugged in a terminal and began pulling the gate addresses stored in its memories for later analysis to try and track the wayward team down. As he did so, Da'kyll took one last look at the drawing on the ground before committing the image to memory for possible later use and then entered the tank as Pahk'kall did the same. The Stargate activated and then the Tla'kahn vehicle was gone from sight through its blue pool before the wormhole shut off.

The animals now emerged even more trepid than before, but the strange ringed object did not make any more movements and soon the creatures once more were frolicking across the land.

One small woodland creature, though, stopped its daily routine when it noticed something new in the ground that it had not noticed before. Etched into the ground was an image in a top down profile of some object. One end of the image appeared as a bowl on its side and from the middle of the bowl rising up was a single column that got narrower and narrower before ending with a curved shape. The creature had no idea what the image was supposed to represent and so it continued on its way once more with it never to be thought of again.

Untold countless of light years away, a lone ship named Destiny raced through the universe on its unknown mission. A ship bearing an uncanny similarity to the image clawed into that distant planet by a mysterious alien named Draa'ga.

_At the end of time and space lies Infinity…_


End file.
